News & Announcements

A bill passed by the Michigan State Senate would endanger the health of Michiganders by granting sweeping new powers to practitioners of unscientific bogus medicine and treatments, said the Center for Inquiry.

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by Eric Wojciechowski

UFOlogy is replete with varying descriptions of UFOs and their occupants—so much so that concluding an alien intelligence is piloting them goes against the more logical and reasonable conclusion that the only intelligence behind the phenomenon is the human brain itself.

The Sputtering Engine of Creator Belief

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Far from belief in a supernatural creator being a natural consequence of the way our brains work like language, materialism, and sex, it is an easily cast-off opinion quickly losing ground in the United States and much of the world.

Say It Isn’t So

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by Kenneth R. Foster

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Today, skeptics fight not only false assertions and misinterpretation of facts but also a fundamental distrust of science and a deep-seated paranoia about reputable institutions lying to the entire culture.

Those Supposed Aliens Might Be Worms

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by David Zeigler

Many believe life on alien planets would likely include intelligent humanoids, and much of science fiction uses this idea. Based on what we know of evolution on Earth, there is really no basis for this belief; however, one supportable prediction for alien lifeform would be worms.

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by Jeanne Goldberg

Public attitudes about radiation, shaped by a rich history of mythology from biblical times to the modern events of Chernobyl and Fukushima, impact personal lives and decisions, but they also have global existential implications.

I’ve Got Algorithm. Who Could Ask for Anything More?

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by Peter Kassan

The news has been filled with discussions of the so-called algorithms of Facebook and other software giants. Originally, the word algorithm had a precise meaning, but more recently it has been used to elicit undeserved respect—and perhaps to avoid deeper scrutiny.

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by Lorence G. Collins

After my article “Twenty-One Reasons Noah’s Worldwide Flood Never Happened” was published in the March/April 2018 Skeptical Inquirer, the creationist organization Answers in Genesis produced a YouTube video in which Andrew Snelling criticized some of the reasons I presented.

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The first I heard about a shadowy UFO research program operated by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 2007–2012 was when I was interviewed by New York Times reporter Helene Cooper on December 12, 2017.

Progressophobia: Why Things Are Better Than You Think They Are

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by Steven Pinker

Intellectuals dislike the very idea of progress. Our own mental bugs also distort our understanding of the world, blinding us to improvements in the human condition underway globally—and to the ideas that have made them possible.

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The decades-long academic assault on science has bewildered the American public about the role and function of science, promoted anti-intellectualism, and politically empowered purveyors of supernaturalism and paranormal beliefs.

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Consciousness is not a nonphysical phenomenon. It is an evolved user-illusion, “a system of virtual machines that evolved, genetically and memetically, to play very special roles in the ‘cognitive niche’ our ancestors have constructed over the millennia.”

Content copyright CSI or the respective copyright holders. Do not redistribute without obtaining permission. Articles, reports, reviews, and letters published on the CSICOP.org website represent the views and work of individual authors. Their publication does not necessarily constitute and endorsement by CSI or its members unless so stated. Thanks to the ESO for the image of the Helix Nebula, also NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team for the image of NGC 3808B (ARP 87).